ArticleThe journal of headache and pain2010
A potential nitrergic mechanism of action for indomethacin, but not of other COX inhibitors: relevance to indomethacin-sensitive headaches.
Article in The journal of headache and pain, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pediatric hypnic headache: a systematic review.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Pooled it
- A randomized placebo-controlled trial in healthy volunteers examining the effects of acetaminophen and NO-acetaminophen NCX 701 in human endotoxemia.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Indomethacin has no effect on trigeminally provoked parasympathetic output.Cephalalgia : an international journal of headache · 2022Trial
- Bridging the gap: molecular mechanisms, regional activity and connectivity in headache disorders.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Review
- Hallmarks of primary headache: part 4 - rare headache syndromes.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Review
- Primary stabbing headache in a tertiary headache centre.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Article
- Treatment-Related Reversible Cerebral Vasoconstriction Syndrome.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Indomethacin for refractory COVID or post-COVID headache: a retrospective study.Acta neurologica Belgica · 2022Observational
- Long-Term Outcome of Indomethacin Treatment in Pediatric Patients with Paroxysmal Hemicrania-A Case Series.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- The fifth cranial nerve in headaches.The journal of headache and pain · 2020Review
- Targeting the central projection of the dural trigeminovascular system for migraine prophylaxis.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2019Article
- Hemicrania Continua: a Clinical Perspective on Diagnosis and Management.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2018Review
- Therapeutic Approaches for the Management of Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgias.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2018Review
- Do trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias represent primary diagnoses or points on a continuum?Current pain and headache reports · 2015Review
- When indomethacin fails: additional treatment options for "indomethacin responsive headaches".Current pain and headache reports · 2015Review
- Postoperative hemicrania continua-like headache - a case series.The journal of headache and pain · 2015Article
- Indomethacin-responsive headaches.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2015Review
- Hemicrania continua.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2014Review
- Mechanism of action of indomethacin in indomethacin-responsive headaches.Current pain and headache reports · 2013Review
- Modified Valsalva test differentiates primary from secondary cough headache.The journal of headache and pain · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that act as cyclo-oxygenase (COX) inhibitors are commonly used in the treatment of a range of headache disorders, although their mechanism of action is unclear. Indomethacin is of particular interest given its very special effect in some primary headaches. Here the in vivo technique of intravital microscopy in rats has been utilised as a model of trigeminovascular nociception to study the potential mechanism of action of indomethacin. Dural vascular changes were produced using electrical (neurogenic) dural vasodilation (NDV), calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) induced dural vasodilation and nitric oxide (NO) induced dural vasodilation using NO donors. In each of these settings the effect of intravenously administered indomethacin (5 mg kg(-1)), naproxen (30 mg kg(-1)) and ibuprofen (30 mg kg(-1)) was tested. All of the tested drugs significantly inhibited NDV (between 30 and 52%). Whilst none of them was able to inhibit CGRP-induced dural vasodilation, only indomethacin reduced NO induced dural vasodilation (35 ± 7%, 10 min post administration). We conclude NSAIDs inhibit release of CGRP after NDV without an effect on CGRP directly. Further we describe a differentiating effect of indomethacin inhibiting nitric oxide induced dural vasodilation that is potentially relevant to understanding its unique action in disorders such as paroxysmal hemicrania and hemicrania continua.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.